Marlowe and the Popular Tradition turns away from popular stereotypes to consider Marlowe as a popular dramatist who inherited an audience with certain expectations and shared experiences. This work explores Marlowe's engagement with the traditions of the popular stage in the 1580's and early 1590's. It offers a new approach to his major plays in terms of staging and audience response, as well as providing a new account of the English drama in these important but largely neglected years.